Methanol As Fuel Essays - Industrial Gases, Fuel Gas,

Methanol As Fuel This section is about methanol fuel cells for our future. Since I have done this research I have never realized how important future fuels are. Methanol is a liquid fuel made form natural gas or renewable biomass resources. Methanol is the leading candidate to provide the hydrogen necessary to power fuel cell vehicles. The commercialization of methanol-powered fuel cells will offer practical, affordable, long-range electric vehicles with zero or near zero emissions while retaining the convenience of a liquid fuel. By 2004 they say or even sooner, fuel cells operating on methanol will power a variety of cars and buses in the U.S and worldwide.( www.mehanol.org) Methanol is predoninantly produced by steam reforming of natural gas to dcreate a sythesis gas, which is then dfed into a reactor vessel in the presence of a catalyst to produce methanol and water vapor. Although a variety of feedstock's other than natural gas can and have been used, today's economics favor natural gas. Synthesis gas refers to combination of carbon monoxide and hydrogen while a large amount of synthesis gas us used to make methanol, most synthesis gas is used to make ammonia. As a result, most methanol plants are adjacent o or are part of ammonia plants. The gas fed into another reactor vessel under high temperatures and pressures, where monoxide and hydrogen are came in the presence of a catalyst to produce methanol. Finally, the reactor product is distilled to purify and separate the methanol from the reactor effluent. (wwwadfc.nrel.gov.) "(Washington, D.C., January 28) A study by the environmental engineering firm Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. finds far fewer environmental threats from using methanol in fuel cell vehicles, compared to gasoline's use for internal combustion engines. In addition, a video presentation on methanol and the environment produced by the Public Interest Video Network will be premiered at "The Road to Fuel Cell Vehicles: A National Forum" being held on February 4th and 5th at the Hotel Washington in Washington, D.C" (www.methanol.org) Methanol will probably be transferred from import terminals or production facilities by barge, rail, or truck to eventually reach retail outlets. While the alcohol fuel is a liquid at ambient temperatures and atmospheric pressures, the cannot be moved easily through the existing petroleum product market network. "The world's major automakers have all announced plans for the market introduction of fuel cell vehicles by 2003/2004. These fuel cell vehicles will require a source of hydrogen fuel. As a liquid fuel rich in hydrogen, methanol is the leading candidate to power tomorrow's fuel cell cars and buses. A comprehensive needs assessment should be performed to determine how best to provide methanol fuel to an emerging market for fuel cell vehicles." (www. The American Methanol Foundation" From the information gathered it seems that methanol is the number one candidate for future fuels for leading car manufactures. It is also nice to know that the government has plans to figure In addition, this assessment will attempt to forecast methanol fuel direction and tools for consumer education efforts regarding the use of methanol in fuel cell vehicles.

Vocabulary Tips On Tenterhooks - Proofeds Writing Tips

Vocabulary Tips On Tenterhooks - Proofeds Writing Tips Vocabulary Tips: On Tenterhooks The phrase â€Å"on tenterhooks† is quite common in English. However, it is also one of the most widely misspelled phrases around (it even came in at number two in a British survey). But what does it mean to be â€Å"on tenterhooks†? What exactly is a â€Å"tenterhook†? And how do you avoid errors when using this phrase? In this post, we explain everything you need to know. What â€Å"On Tenterhooks† Means When we say we are â€Å"on tenterhooks,† we mean that we are feeling tense or agitated due to anticipating a future event. For example, we might use it in a sentence as follows: I’ve been on tenterhooks waiting for my exam results. This means that we find waiting for the results hard to bear! But where does the phrase come from? The Origins of Tenterhooks â€Å"Tenterhooks† comes from the old-fashioned term â€Å"tenter.† This was a frame used for drying and stretching cloth, so a â€Å"tenterhook† was a hook used on one of these frames. A tenter frame in action.(Photo: Clem Rutter/wikimedia) You won’t see many tenter frames around these days. However, if you time traveled back to a wool-making town in seventeenth-century England, they’d be a common sight. Tenters were actually used as far back as the fourteenth century, but we picked the seventeenth century as our time travel destination because this is when the phrase â€Å"on the tenters† first appears. This then evolved into â€Å"on tenterhooks† in the same way we use it today. Its meaning was probably more obvious at the time, as people were used to seeing cloth literally being held in suspense by tenterhooks. The jump to metaphorical tension or suspense was therefore a natural one. Tenterhooks vs. Tenderhooks? One common error people make when using this phrase is to write â€Å"tenderhooks† instead of â€Å"tenterhooks.† This may be a result of mishearing the term when spoken. Or it might just be because â€Å"tender† is a familiar English word. Unfortunately, â€Å"tenderhooks† is not a real word at all. We admit that the image of a â€Å"tender† hook is intriguing, though. Perhaps it is less pointy than most hooks? Or a hook used for attaching yourself to a loved one? The possibilities are endless. But until someone does invent a â€Å"tender hook,† we recommend sticking to the phrase â€Å"on tenterhooks† if you are trying to express anticipation or suspense.

LED520 Cross-Cultural Communication and Leadership Assignment - 1

LED520 Cross-Cultural Communication and Leadership - Assignment Example The dichotomy of individualism/collectivism individuals from different cultures related with one another on an individual level and within a group. The degree of individualism or collectivism is determined, by the way, an individual responds to groups (Earley & Gibson, 1998). Some cultures encourage members to prioritize the needs of the group while in some personal needs come first. Power Distance, Individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity/feminism are the four dimensions of culture advanced by Geert Hofstede (Hofstedes Intercultural Dimensions, n.d.). The Power Distance dimension refers to the level of equality/inequality in a particular society. A society with high power distances are very unequal, and it is difficult to climb the ladder. Individualism dimension refers to the level of importance attached to individual achievements. Cultural metaphors help in understanding the difference in culture. It facilitates efficient cross-cultural communication (Vernon-Wortzel & Shrivastava, 1996). The idea is to select something that the members of a given society consider important. That thing can be used to comprehend the basic features of that given society (Vernon-Wortzel & Shrivastava, 1996). The use of cultural metaphors makes it easy to understand the most important features of a society. The cultural group selected for the project is Afghanistan. During the project, I had a chance to interact with Afghanistan Army soldier who also act as interpreters. It will be my first time to be in contact with people from Afghanistan. The Afghanistan people have a very distinct culture that is very different from the Western culture. The cultural activity entails working with the group of Afghanistan arm soldiers starting from April. We spent most of the time with soldiers because we work, eat, fellowship, and sleep beside each other. The

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Strategy - Essay Example The vast existing literature based on strategic management reflects both these perspectives from the firm’s point of view. The traditional economic theories embrace the firm’s resource position while conceptualizing strategies to be adopted by the firm (Andrews, 1971). On the other hand, a majority of the formal tools used in economics nowadays emphasize upon the product-market facet of a firm. Although these are two different perspectives of studying a firm’s resource position and its market activities, these are both focused on the role of resources used by the firm in determining its strategic decisions. Hence, one might expect to yield the same insight on following either of these two perspectives of the resource based view of a corporate organization. However, these insights might arrive with differing levels of ease, depending on which perspective the analyst has chosen. Literature review Economists traditionally consider economic units (firms) in terms of the resource endowments each firm has. These resource endowments are typically confined to three factors, namely, land, labour and capital. Authors that espouse the resource based perspective of the firm accredit Edith Tilton Penrose for laying the building blocks of this theory (Rugman and Verbeke, 2002). Penrose (1959) has made direct contributions to develop the modern view of resource based management. She has as well indirectly influenced the proposition by contributing further into these theories; the theory of creating competitive advantage, theory of sustaining the competitive advantage for the firm and the relationship between economic rents and competitive advantage (Penrose, 1959). There are debates regarding the work by Penrose. Rugman and Verbeke (2002) have put forth the argument that Penrose’s work was not aimed at providing strategy prescriptions for the creation of a sustainable flow of rents. The ideas put forth by Penrose have been used by several scholars as the foundation for models depicting the relationship between rents and competitive advantage of firms and they emphasise that this relationship plays a significant role in the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage. However, the argument against the espousing of the resource-based view (RBV) of Penrose by these scholars, is that, she had given a rigorous description of the growth process of firms in her works and did not intend to build up a strategy prescription for firms (Rugman and Verbeke, 2002). Till 1984, when Wernerfelt presented his work ‘A resource-based view of the Firm’ this perspective of looking at firms did not become well accustomed with economists and analysts. While other papers did not yet receive much formal attention, the paper by Penrose (1959) had received wide acclamation from contemporary and modern economists. According to Wernerfelt (1984), some of the resources used in firms have certain properties that are unpleasant and unhelpfu l for modelling purposes. Due to this reason economists might not have considered these resources as a good measure for strategizing competitive advantage of firms’. While products of a firm are easy to identify and the characteristics of their production and sales can be categorised and measured easily, a firm’

Water pollution prevention Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Water pollution prevention - Research Paper Example For a sustainable life on planet earth, water is one of the most important indispensable commodity without which survival of human life and all the other life forms is not possible. It affects our economy, health and lifestyle.The major utilization of this resource is in industries such as agriculture, hydroelectric power generation, transportation, industry along with domestic and commercial uses. Major portions of the earth’s surface are covered with water in the form of oceans and ice caps and therefore difficult to recover; however, only 3% of these water bodies (rivers, lakes) constitute fresh water available for human consumption. Also rainwater is a major source of our water supply on earth. Water pollution has become a global environmental issue due to rapid industrialization, population boom, increased economic activities and demand for fresh water has increased manifolds in the past years. Any detrimental variation (physical, chemical or biological) in the state of w ater by contamination of harmful substances is known as water pollution (Goel1). It influences all the water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans and ground water. It affects human beings, plants, animals, birds and fish etc. and is responsible for disturbing the natural ecosystem on earth. There are several sources for water contamination however; there are two primary routes through which these contaminants enter surface water, ground water, drinking water and soil/sediment water. (a) Point source pollution. The discharge of distinct pollutant sources directly into water bodies and aquatic systems (USEPA 14). For example: 1. Domestic/Municipal sewage: The waste water generated from household/commercial activities contains organic (food waste) and inorganic waste (nitrates and phosphates) (WWF 2). The amount of organic waste that water bodies can degrade is determined in terms of Biological oxygen demand. BOD is the amount of oxygen required by the microorganisms to decompose organ ic matter and thus the higher amount of BOD in a water body signifies that it is polluted with organic waste. However, inorganic wastes produced largely by soaps and detergents are non-degradable and upon entering the water bodies causes serious implications on ecosystem. 2. Industrial effluents: Waste water containing organic pollutants and toxic chemicals (lead, mercury, nitrates and phosphates) from manufacturing and processing industries causes water pollution. Also, disposal of solid and gaseous wastes from nuclear and thermal power plants are a source of water pollution (Agarwal 37). 3. Agriculture: Agricultural wastes include manure, slurries and run off. Manure being rich in nitrates and phosphates seeps in the sediments/ground water causing water pollution. 4. Atmospheric gases: As a result of industrial gaseous emissions and automobile exhaust the concentration of dissolved gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur dioxide, ammonia and carbon dioxide is increased sufficientl y in atmosphere. Subsequently, the water in close proximity to these polluted areas becomes concentrated with these gases resulting in water pollution (Agarwal 39). (b) Non-point source pollution (NPS): Contaminants entering indirectly into water bodies through ground/soil water or atmosphere through rain comprise of NPS. These include gaseous emissions from factories, automobiles, agricultural run-off etc. (USEPA 13). Agricultural NPS is the leading source of water quality degradation and is majorly caused by runoff soils carrying fertilizers, growth hormone residue, pesticides and heavy metals etc. Other sources of water pollution include spillage of oil and harmful substances in water bodies, atmospheric deposition, marine dumping, radioactive wastes and global warming. All of these have devastating and extensive damage effects on aquatic life (Agarwal 37). Harmful effects of water pollution are: 1. Source of contaminants/pathogens to human beings: According to UN world water Ass essment Program, around 2.3

India As A Tourist Destination Tourism Essay

India As A Tourist Destination Tourism Essay The term marketing has a very important meaning in the area such as retailing, branding and other similar areas such as event marketing. On the other hand, marketing in tourism and hospitality sectors are still legging comparing with the other areas. In this paper, different elements of tourism marketing will be explained with the help of understanding the concepts of marketing theory and research within tourism and hospitality sectors (Williams, 2006). Tourism is broadly defined as a business activity which is connected with providing accommodation, service and entertainment for people who are visiting a place for pleasure, recreation, leisure, business and so on (Chaudhary, 2010). It becomes an integral part of todays lifestyle. Hence, tourism marketing is also one of the important sectors where more effort and concern has been given to increase the standard of tourism all over. The reason behind this new trend is due to the increase of cross-cultural activities and due to the pass ion of people for visiting new destination. Also, the volume of tourism activity and the value is increasing compare to holiday destinations. This creates an inconsistency between tourism demand and supply, thereby creating under-utilized tourism capacity (Kaynak Kucukemiroglu, 1993). Position: Scope and the Objective of the study This paper discuss about the different marketing concepts which are used in tourism marketing and their application to generate different marketing strategy. In this paper, India has been chosen as the holiday destination. Hence all the research and analyze has been done to identified different marketing strategies to increase and promote Indian tourism all over. Scope and Objectives: The objectives of this research are as follows: To study the  theoretical  framework for marketing in tourism and the concept of marketing  strategy  in the tourism  industry this includes: PEST analysis, marketing mix,  segmentation, targeting and positioning. Conduct surveys and analyze India as a holiday destination and compare it with other  holiday destination To explore the perception of India as tourist destination Global Tourism Industry Todays era, the tourism Industry is booming all over the world. Tourism has become one the significant ingredient of mankind. A new tourism industry is rising which is driven by new consumers, new technologies, new ideas and new management techniques (Poon, 1993). The opportunities in the tourism industry are increasing with time and it is considered that at the end of 21st century, the tourism industry will generate more than 500 million employments whole over the world which will results in the increase of GDP by the tourism industry upto 15% (LCS Parking, 2012). Emerge of special marketing concepts including special tourist segments where the special segment refers to the the provision of customized leisure and recreational experiences driven by specific interests of individuals and groups (Sung, 2004) increases the number of tourists all over. According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, despite of economic crisis in some of the major outbound markets around world, the total n umber of international tourists travel between the January to April 2012 is more than 285 million which indicates a growth of 5.4% compare to the last year (UNWTO, 2012). The main consideration of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) is to provide with the best possible facilities and service for a distinct and specific need of the tourists (Sung H. H., 2004) and ensure benefits for consumers, business, local people and the environment. To provide the best facilities there is an immense change in the Tourism Industry (World Travel Tourism Council, 2012). The infrastructure and accommodation is one of the key sectors of the tourist industry. Even the advanced and sophisticated communication technology helps the actual and potential tourists all over with their expectations, personalities, and ever-changing needs (Pyo, Uysal, Chang, 2002). Expected Result of the study Literature Review A General Overview of Tourism What is Tourism Marketing? A product can be idea, goods, or service. Since the tourism industry is primarily a serviced-based industry, the main products provided by tourism business are recreational experiences and hospitality. This are intangible products and much more difficult to market than the tangible product. The intangible nature of services makes quality control difficult but crucial. It also makes it more difficult for potential customers to evaluate and compare service offerings (Chaudhary, Indroduction to Tourism Marketing, 2012). In addition, instead of moving the product to the consumer, the customer must travel to the product (area/community). Travels forms a significant portion of time and money spent in association with tourism experiences and is a major factor in peoples decisions on whether or not to visit a place (Vukonic, 1983). Tourism marketing or the marketing in relation to tourism means the process of achieving voluntary exchange between: Tourist who want to appreciate/ experience product and service. Organisations which put together and offer the product and service. The WTO defines tourism marketing as a management philosophy that in the light of tourism demands makes it possible through research, forecasting, and selection to place tourism product on the market most in line with the organizations purpose for greater benefits. Nature of Tourism Marketing Marketing is different perspectives that provide an understanding of the nature of marketing and tourism marketing (Panda, 2009). Marketing is an activity: Marketing is explained as an activity that is carried by a marketer to give its offer to customers. For example, marketing of a tour packages involves assembling the package, promoting it, and arrange it for sales. The focus in this perspective is to make the activity cost-effective and efficient. Marketing is an economic process: Marketing generates revenues directly through transactions and indirectly through its multiplier effect and employment generation. Here efforts are made to maximize economic benefits. Tourism marketing in its initial phase focused on economic benefits. Marketing is a social process: Marketing as a social process involves interaction and relationship between participants coming from different walks of life and society. The social process make host-guest relationship an important part of tourism marketing. Right to travel and pro-poor tourism have developed in response to the different social process. Marketing in managerial process Marketing is considered to be a business function that undertakes all managerial functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling to carry out different activities. Overall, marketing can be combined together. It can be the economic, social, managerial process and activity at the same time. However, its different natures may dominate at different times. Process of Tourism Marketing Tourism marketing is a cycle process that begins with the understanding of drives, needs, wants and demands of tourists who are satisfied through suitable offers by entering into an exchange process with the marketers. The feedback of exchange is used by both the parties for the future relations. The different elements of a cyclic process give an insight of tourism marketing. Capture.PNG Fig: Tourism Marketing Process Understanding Needs, Drives, Wants and Demands of Tourists It is very important to know the tourist behavior as it will helps in delivering desired satisfaction. This begins with the identification of their needs, drives, want and demands. Need: Need is the felt gap between the existing and the desired state. Need motivates a person to act when it reaches the threshold level and it can be both physical and psychological. Marketers identify the need of people that direct their tourism behavior and offers alternatives to satisfy their needs. Maslows framework can be used to understand these needs. It divides the human needs into five categories of physical, safety, love and esteem and self-actualization. Tourists need a minimum acceptable level of food and accommodation at a place before travel. Safety need is reflected in the form of tourists need for law and order. That makes tourists avoid places of war, terrorism and conflicts. Need for love is the acceptance of tourists in the host society. In most of the cases, tourists prefer open societies than closed one. Esteem needs are tourists expectation that the host society would understand their importance and recognize the same. Lastly, self-actualization is undertaking trips that always been dreamt. Drive: Drive is the force created by needs. Unsatisfied needs create tension that drives the consumers to look for solutions. These solutions take the form of specific products. Buyers search for the best solution for their needs. The stimuli present in the environment give direction to drive. Want: Want is an expression of need in the specific form. Want are the thing which someone like but not really necessary. The need of recreation, leisure people generally tend to go for holiday. Marketers fit into the want framework other by redesigning offers or by assisting buyers in learning about new forms of product, services or idea. Demand: Demand is want accompanied by the purchasing power. It decides if the buyer has enough money to purchase. Demand changes with prices, substitutes, marketing efforts, inflation levels, income, etc. Demand can be created by building the purchasing power. For instance, when the demand for air travel has gone up than companies has introduced budget airlines. Growth of Tourism Marketing Tourism marketing evolved with the growth of tourism. The concept of tourism is very old, but its modern organized form started in the eighteenth century. Earlier, travel was undertaken for business and religious purpose. Tourism as a full- fledged a full- fledged business did not exist. Its marketing started with the first organized tours offered by Thomas Cook in 1841. Evolution of Tourism Marketing: Tourism marketing and its orientation has changed with the growth of tourism. Internationally, tourism came of age in 1950 and since then has seen a continuous change in the approach towards its development (Wang Pizam, 1998). The stages of tourism development and the corresponding marketing approaches are discussed below. Boosterism approach in the 1950s: It was the beginning of modern tourism and the emphasis was on boosting the tourism activity. This approach was based on the following assumptions towards tourism. Tourism is inherently good and should be developed. Cultural and natural resources should be exploited for tourism develop Economic Planning approaches in 1960s: As a result of the efforts of the earlier phases, the economic potential of tourism was well understood and new assumptions towards tourism were as follows. Tourism is like any other industry. Tourism can be used to create jobs, earn foreign exchange, and improve terms of trade, encourage regional development, and overcome economic disparities. Physical and spatial approach in the 1970s and the 1980s: The earlier approaches resulted in the massive growth in the massive growth of tourism. Mass tourism was not without consequences and its negative impacts on environment became visible and well known. This changed the earlier assumption of it being inherently good and harmless and new assumptions were formed. These were as follows. Tourism is a resource user. It exploits and destroys the natural resources used as tourism attractions. There has to be an ecological basis for its development to preserve the natural resources and tourism attractions. Tourism development can be geographically distributed to reduce the impacts. Community approach in 1990s: As tourism continued to developed, their social impacts were noticed. Particularly the local communication felt alienated. There were inconvenienced by the growth of mass tourism and were not in a position to decide on tourism development. As a result, tourism was opposed. It led to the focus on the following assumptions. Local community control on tourism development in the area is needed. Need for balanced development of tourism and search for alternatives to mass tourism. Social impact of tourism on a community and their attitudes toward tourism should be understood. Sustainable approach in the 1990s: Large-scale tourism development forced tourism planners to think of tourism development in a more holistic manner where the economic, environmental, and socio-cultural issues could be balanced. The concept of sustainable tourism was adopted for this purpose. The assumption for this approach is that a suitable balance must be established between environmental, economic, and socio-cultural dimensions of tourism development to ensure its long-term sustainability. Marketing orientation too becomes socio- environmental to balance the interests of tourism, marketers and the environment (Verbeek, Bargeman, Mommaas, 2011). Marketing Concepts for Tourism The marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than the competitors do. Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the two important paths to sales and profit. Hence, the marketing concepts depend on the determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively than competitors do (Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, Saunders, 2008). Different marketing concepts are used in tourism industry are as discussed below. PEST Analysis in Tourism Market It is important to know about the market environment first for any marketers. In tourism this competition is fiercer, since the competition is almost in the destination of various states as well as countries. Market environment refers to the constitute forces which exist in the environment and influence the customer decision making. For scanning the tourism-marketing environment in India, the PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) Political Environment: Political environment influence tourism marketing through pressure groups, policies, rules and regulations, and legislation (Bennett Strydom, 2001). Pressure Group: These groups in society use political influence for the furtherance of certain issues. Green groups work for ecotourism, consumer group for tourist protection, cultural groups for protection of heritage and culture, industry groups for reduction of taxes and so on. These try to influence law-making bodies to create a suitable mechanism to address their concern. Law and Policies: The government regulates tourism with the help of laws that govern its different sector. The government creates policies as guidelines to provide direction for the development of tourism. For instance, the Tourist Policy 2002 guides tourism growth in India. Rules and Regulations: Rules regarding land allocation for hotels and tourism development, tax concessions, permits, registrations of tour operators and travel agents, open sky, budget airlines, and tourism police gives a direction for tourism growth. Economic Environment: The general economic environment of a country influences any economic activity. Growth of new sector: Growth of new sectors, such as information technology (IT), travel and tourism, retails and banking has given jobs to young people. This income is finding its outlet in recreation, including travel and hospitality. Growth of economy: Growth of new sectors lead to growth of economy. Easy availability of foreign exchange: Increase of foreign tourism leads in increase of foreign exchange. Social Environment: The social environment decides buying patterns of the tourists and the response of the society to tourism. The socio-cultural environment of a place decides the holiday choices regarding the type of destination, activities, duration of holiday, expenditure pattern and so on. Group behavior: Indians are group oriented. This makes group travel acceptable and likable. The reference group in framing opinions is also very important. Lifestyle changes: Globalizations has changed the lifestyle of people. People take tours frequently for a change and rejuvenations. Technological Environment: Technology has completely altered the way the tourism business is conducted. Transportation: Transportation technology has given faster and better vehicles to facilitate the movement of tourists to far off places. Information and communication Technology (ICT): Major changes have been introduced by information and communications technologies in tourism. Internet and online distribution systems have been improved. Marketing Mix in Tourism Market Tourism Product Tourism product is a mix of tangible and intangible elements. Kotler (1984) conceptualizes product as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that, might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, service, persons, places, organization and ideas. This takes the concept of product beyond physical objects and can very well include tourism. Medlik and Middleton (1973) conceptualize tourism product as a bundle of activities, services and benefits that constitute the entire tourism experience. The bundle consists of five components: destination attractions, destination facilities, accessibility, images and price. According to Smith (1994) a tourism product consists of five elements in a series of concentric circles. The core is tangible and more controllable by management but the outward progression marks more intangible elements and greater consumer participations. The tourism product is a synergistic combination of these elements. These elements are as follows. The physical plan: This is the core of a tourism product where the main attraction is produced. It can be natural such as landscape or waterfall, or facilities such as conference hall, theme park, hotel, etc. Service: Service refers to the performance of specific tasks required to meet the need of tourism. A hotel needs management, front desk operation, housekeeping, maintenance, and food and beverage provisions to function as a hotel. Hospitality: Consumers expect enhanced service or something extra. Hospitality is that extra provided over professional service. Freedom of choice: It refers to the necessity that the traveler has some acceptable range of options for a satisfactory experience. Involvement: This is participation by consumers in some degree in the delivery of service. Tourism is known to be a participative activity. Hegarty (1992) explain tourism product through the following components. Environment: It is the raw material of tourism that gives a tourist destination its particular appeal. It has natural, cultural, and social elements. Activities: These are based on and derived from the environment. Foe example, trekking, rafting, sightseeing and so on. Accommodation: A tourist must have a place to sleep and eat Transport: There must be ways of getting around the destination. Services: There are various services that support tourism such as information, health, booking and customs. Infrastructure: Tourism cannot work without basic infrastructure like roads, airports, telecommunication and medical support. Destination Life Cycle and Tourism Area Life Cycle: The concept of life cycle is applied to destination as TALC (Tourism Area Life Cycle) or DLC (Destination Life Cycle). It is defined as stages a destination goes through, from exploration to involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, rejuvenation, or decline (Howie, 2003). Tourism Area life cycle.PNG Fig: Tourism Area Life Cycle Butler (1980) proposed the tourism area life cycle model of a tourist destination that identifies the stage of exploration, development, consolidation, stagnation, and decline. Exploration: This is the beginning of the destination for tourist activities. At this stage the destination is relatively unknown and visitors initially come in small numbers restricted by lack of access, facilities and local knowledge. Development: The destination see development of amenities as more people discover them and word spreads about the attraction. Stagnation: Tourists arrivals grow rapidly some theoretical carrying capacity which involves social and environmental limits. The rise of exploration to stagnation often happens very rapidly, as implied by the exponential nature of growth curve. Decline or Rejuvenation: A destination would decline if it follows trajectories C, D, and E as shown in the above Figure. This will happen if the very attractions that created the destination are lost. However, it may continues to draw some tourists with increased consumption and unsustainable development but not for very long. Tourism pricing: Price is the momentary value decided for exchange of goods and services between the buyers and sellers. Both parties want maximum benefits from this exchange. Factors Influence Tourism Pricing Tourism pricing is influenced by a large number of factors relating to supply, demand and the environment. The cumulative effect decides the final price. Supply-side Factors: Supply of tourism services is characterised by perish-ability, geographical restrictions, and domination by intangibles, and with consumption that takes place instantly with production. All this affects pricing. The specific supply-related factors affecting prices are discussed below. Perishable: Tourism services tend to perish if not consumed. For example, if a place has a carrying capacity for 5,000 tourists per day, it will host 35,000 in a week. It cannot host all tourists in one day. Hence, tourism services are to be consumed as and when produced. To bear the cost of maintaining supplies throughout the year, the prices may fluctuate. Intangible: Tourism Services are dominated by intangibles and putting a momentary value for these is very difficult. Intangibility is used by the hotels to price rooms differently depending upon various factors. For example, room facing sea will be perceived differently from the one facing a road. Geographically restricted operations: All tourism services come defined with geographical constraints. For example, a diners clientele can get services at a particular place only where the diner is placed. Tourists can enjoy a national park only after getting there. This limits the potential of the restaurant and the park only to the people who get there. Fixed Capacity: Tourism supplies have a fixed capacity. In tourism, supplies are limited; hence prices tend to rise in relation to demand. For example, in a hotel double room cannot accommodate more than two people. Substitutes: Availability of substitutes increase total supplies and tourists shift to different options for reasons such as higher prices, non-availability, and so on. For example, paying guest accommodation is being a substitute for storage of hotel rooms. However, all components of tourism cannot have relevant substitutes. Costs: Costs decide the minimum level of revenue to be charged from the buyers. But if the costs are high because of inefficiencies of production, prices too are unreasonably high. Cost of tour packages are often not in the hands of marketers, when most of the components are bought from other suppliers. Both fixed cost and variable costs are accounted for pricing. Actively-based costing (ABC) is used to calculate costs in tourism. Competition: Competition in the market increases supplies, reduce inefficiencies and bring down prices. Demand-side Factor: Tourists option about services affects demand as well perception of price. The specific demand-related factors affecting prices are discussed below: Value Perception: Value perception of price is subjective and varies among and within market segment. It also varies with time and location. Level of Demand: The level of demand impacts prices. High demand leads to high prices as tourists compete among themselves for the experience. Demand Pattern: Tourism demand often marked by seasonal fluctuations with majority of tourists travelling during the tour season for the best experience. As a result, demand exceeds capacity in peak period and facilities remain underused in the off season. Prices are adjusted to the match the demand pattern and also to influence demand to balance it with supply. Environmental Factors: External environment constitutes many forces that directly or indirectly shape demand and supply factors and price. Tax Structure: The tax structure in the form of surcharges, airport tax, luxury tax and service tax adds to the cost and the final prices. Consequently, when the service tax rate is changed, final prices changes immediately. Market Structure: Type and level of competition in the market has a direct bearing on price. Competition can be easy or intense, negative or positive, with similar or dissimilar, government regulated of free. Less competition results in higher prices whereas the healthy competition leads to reduction of prices. Government Policies: Marketers have to abide by government policies on price. For example, India has a dual price policy wherein foreigners pay in dollar and Indians in rupees. Price is the momentary value of goods and services and fixing this value right is critical for the success of a firm in the market. The cost-based, buyer-based and competition-based methods are commonly used in tourism industry. Once a price-level is determined, pricing strategies are used to respond to the continuously changing environment. The strategies often used are market skimming, market penetration, price-quality combination, discount pricing, geographical pricing and differential pricing. Tourism Promotion: Promotion mix is the combination of different methods of promotion. Each method is suitable under different conditions and a right combination can be very powerful. Tourism promotion is persuasive communication for the target market. It follows the general rules of human communication and applies it to marketing (Jayapalan, 2001). The goal of promotion is to contribute to marketing goals but it has its specific objectives in terms of attitudes and sales behavior of the market. Promotion is carried out with the help of different methods and together these are called promotion mix. Important Promotional Tools in Tourism A few promotional tools, such as brochures, events and movies are more apt for tourism because of their distinct nature. Brochures: Brochures are popular form of promotion used for direct sales. These are defined as booklets or pamphlets used for sales and promotion. This has the following advantages. It targeted more specifically. If retained, it will have greater reminder value. It can also have secondary or pass-along audience. Events: Events are organized occasions of significance. They are used to promote and highlight the tourism potential of a destination. The following and many more types of events are used for promotion tourism. International trade fair: This fair bring large number of buyers and sellers to a place, and who are likely to spread the word about the products showcased there. Cultural fair: Destination-specific festivals like carnival etc., brings a large number of tourists to these place. Cultural events: Cultural events, such as film festivals, dance shows, musical events, etc., brings destination in news. Sports events: Sports events, such as Common Wealth Games, show that tourism can be promoted in the different city in the country. Tourism Distribution Tourism distribution is transfer of tour and associated facilities from the suppliers to the tourists through the tourism distribution system. It delivers many benefits to the tourists. These are as follows. Accessibility and availability: Attractions are made available conveniently by arranging transfer of tourists. Information: Tourists get information about places, flights, trains, routes and so on. Counseling and advice: Tourist may not be able to decide about travel destinations and plans and may ask for advice. Arrangements: Tourists want arrangements to be mad for them so that they have minimum hassles on tour. People in Tourism People are an important content of tourism marketing mix. The tourism experience depends upon sellers, tourists, other service providers, residents, and tour group member. Some people understand the importance of tourism but others may not and their behaviors or encounters with the tourists might spoil the whole tour experience. Customer can look for one time encounters or relational long-term encounters. In long-term encounters, customers get attached to the service provider or brand. Long-term relations give marketers a brand-loyal market and consumers get good service. The difficulty is created in encounter with the other service providers, tour group members, and other tourists at the destination who are not directly concerned with marketing. These too have to be marketed the idea of creating a good service environment. The main focuses of the firms are discussed below. Internal environment: The main focus of the firms remains its internal environment and it manages its employees and customers for the same. Transactional Intervention: It is use to improve and control employee behavior. It includes building awareness, training in relationship building, behavioral flexibility and professionalism, empathy, interpersonal skills non-verbal communications and improved physical surroundings. Customer relationship management: It implies entering into, building, maintain, and sustaining relation with customers. Process in Tourism Marketing Process is an important element of tourism marketing mix because of the service-intensive nature of tourism. Tourism service process or delivery of tourism service involves procedures, task schedules, mechanisms, activities, and routines by which a product or service is delivered to a customer. It is an operating system of workflow activities and their integration. The main objectives of service delivery are to build improved, simplified, real-time, on demand, guaranteed, cost-effective service. The process of service delivery includes activities and flows, procedures, mechanisms of transfer, time and cost of transfer, and involvement of tourists in transfer. Physical Evidence in Tourism Physical evidence performs specific functions in tourism and form an integral part of the marketing strategy. The important functions performed by evid

Laura Briggs Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperial

Laura Briggs' Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico In Reproducing Empire, Laura Briggs provides her readers with a very thorough history of the mainland U.S. and Puerto Rican discourses and its authors surrounding Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, from Puerto Rico's formation in the mainland elite's "mind" as a model U.S. (not) colony in 1898* to its present status as semi-autonomous U.S. territory. Briggs opens her book by discussing the origins of globalization in U.S. and western European colonialism, and closes with a review of her methods, in which she calls for a new focus on subaltern studies, including a (re)focus on the authors of information (who she claims as the subjects of this book) as a lens through which to circumvent the "neglect and obsessive interest†¦in the service of the imperial project in Puerto Rico" (207). Briggs identifies herself in her epilogue- "I am a US. Anglo whose ties to the island are only love and a relentless sense that that just as the history of the island is inescapably tied to the mainland, so the mainland's history is reciprocally tied to the island" (206). Briggs notes that there is an active history of dissociation of Puerto Rico as part of the U.S., and that to speak only of Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico as true Puerto Ricans, or to construct Puerto Rico as economically unconnected to the U.S. is a misconception, which has been historically employed to blame Puerto Rico for the U.S.' subordination of it. Briggs' records Puerto Rico's history as a "model," "testing site," or "laboratory' for U.S. colonial rule, centering on the ways in which this has functioned in relation to or through (control of) Puerto Rican working class women an... ... note that island organizations that supported birth control for other reasons often utilized funding from these larger foundations. *****While Briggs condemns the stance of most radical to conservative mainland organizations in terms of the sterilization/anti-sterilization debate, she notes at length the ways in which a variety of Puerto Rican activists, such as the Young Lords, circumvented the racist culture of poverty arguments and the dominant tendency to deny agency to their subjects in their political activism outside of this debate. Her judgments on the subject of engagement with a culture of poverty argument are complex, as are the usefulness of deciding what activism is better from her perspective as an academic outsider. I will return to this in terms of the potential usefulness of the intersections between internal and (external?) colonial theory.

Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Essay

Lisa and her husband have decided that they are ready to prepare for their first child. Lisa is 26 years old, weighs 125 pounds and is 5’6†. Lisa has been reading everything she can find on pregnancy because she knows that her prepregnancy health is important to the success of her pregnancy. She knows she should avoid alcohol, especially because alcohol is potentially toxic to the growing fetus in the first weeks of pregnancy, and she could become pregnant and not know about it right away. Lisa is not a smoker and does not take any medications. Although, she does drink 4 cups of coffee per day and drinks 3 diet cokes each day. She has already modified her diet to include some extra protein, along with more fruits and vegetables. She has always taken the herbal supplements glucosamine for her joints and ginseng for energy. She recently started taking an over-the-counter vitamin and mineral supplement. Lisa has always kept in good shape by running and yoga, and is admittedly worried about gaining too much weight during the pregnancy. She plans to continue exercising throughout her pregnancy. Answer the following questions. Women during pregnany do not recive the proper nourishment of vitamin and mineral supplemts. It is reccomended that they take a prental multiviamin mineral supplement due to the lack of calories, protein, folic acid, vitamin d, calcium, iron, iodine, and zinc in their diets. Deficiencies of these nutrients can result in deficiencies in infants such as low birth weight and reduced head size. I would recommend that Lisa should reduce her coffee and soda intake as they consist of high caffeine. Heavy caffeine use (in animal studies) showed reproductive problems such as mis carriage and birth defects. It would be safe for her to eat up to 12 ounces of fish such as tuna or salmon. The four types of fish that she should avoid are shark, swordfish, kings makerel, and Tilefish which they all contain high levels of meurcury. Consumtion of these products during pregnancy can lead to developmental delays and brain damage. It is common for pregnant women to experience morning sickness and constipation due to hormonal changes in the 1st trimester. I recommend that Lisa eat small frequent meals, eat dry crackers, and avoid food with odors to prevent nausea and vomitting. If she is undergoing constipation, the hormonal changes slow down the GI tract. She should have a high fiber diet and consume at least 8 glasses of fluids a day anlong with exercise daily.

Free Essays on Catastrohpe Of War

Catastrophe of War Blood, sweat, and tears Hope, death, and fears On the desert sand Hot and dry Many men together band The sun beats down Down Down Trouble is coming In a sea of protesters A soldier is drowned Drowned Drowned How can one stay so true To commitment Honor And courage? â€Å"Have you killed?† â€Å"Have you seen people die?† â€Å"How do you keep safe?† Save face – in the face of their hate. Slander thrown Cast are stones Hate projected As we protected The very ones who point the guns And take the lives of friends In arms. Stand this duty So far from home All alone except For the man next to him His Brother In arms. They made a choice To protect the voice Of Freedom . . . NO Of America . . . NO It’s not so simple This soldier’s choice To build a bond of life With a man he would not have known But for death The catastrophe of war Why, then? This fate This choice This load The answer I do not know The question is, â€Å"Why do I Miss it so . . . miss it so . . . miss it so?†... Free Essays on Catastrohpe Of War Free Essays on Catastrohpe Of War Catastrophe of War Blood, sweat, and tears Hope, death, and fears On the desert sand Hot and dry Many men together band The sun beats down Down Down Trouble is coming In a sea of protesters A soldier is drowned Drowned Drowned How can one stay so true To commitment Honor And courage? â€Å"Have you killed?† â€Å"Have you seen people die?† â€Å"How do you keep safe?† Save face – in the face of their hate. Slander thrown Cast are stones Hate projected As we protected The very ones who point the guns And take the lives of friends In arms. Stand this duty So far from home All alone except For the man next to him His Brother In arms. They made a choice To protect the voice Of Freedom . . . NO Of America . . . NO It’s not so simple This soldier’s choice To build a bond of life With a man he would not have known But for death The catastrophe of war Why, then? This fate This choice This load The answer I do not know The question is, â€Å"Why do I Miss it so . . . miss it so . . . miss it so?†...

Free Essays on The Louisiana Purchase

Congress isn’t always mired in gridlock, squabbling and scandal. Crises such as the looming Civil War, the Great Depression, and the civil rights movement have sparked â€Å"the people’s† representatives to pass some of the nations boldest legislation. One of the most significant acts in the history of the United States was past when the senate accepted Thomas Jefferson’s broad interpretation of the Constitution and approved the Louisiana Purchase. Aside from more than doubling the size of the United States with a stroke of a pen, the Louisiana Purchase acquired the largest trade route in North America and had a significant impact on the rest of the world, specifically Europe. In this paper I will discuss the events and circumstance preceding the Louisiana Purchase and also cover the effect the purchase had on our country and the rest of the world. The area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was originally settled by the French in the early 18th century but was ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762. A year later the huge province was lost to Great Britain at the end of the Seven Years’ War, as part of the Treaty of Paris. This area was returned to Spain when the British signed the second Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, which concluded the American Revolution and recognized the former 13 colonies as the free and sovereign United States of America. That same day Great Britain also signed separate treaties with France, an ally of the U.S., and Spain, an ally of France (Crawely 123-127). To continue the juggling of this massive area of land, French Emperor Napoleon forced the secret treaty of San Ildefonso (1800), which turned the land back over to the original owners, France. This action caused uneasiness in the United States because Napoleonic France was an aggressive power at the time. The United States also worried about western settlers who relied on the Mississippi River for commerce. T... Free Essays on The Louisiana Purchase Free Essays on The Louisiana Purchase Congress isn’t always mired in gridlock, squabbling and scandal. Crises such as the looming Civil War, the Great Depression, and the civil rights movement have sparked â€Å"the people’s† representatives to pass some of the nations boldest legislation. One of the most significant acts in the history of the United States was past when the senate accepted Thomas Jefferson’s broad interpretation of the Constitution and approved the Louisiana Purchase. Aside from more than doubling the size of the United States with a stroke of a pen, the Louisiana Purchase acquired the largest trade route in North America and had a significant impact on the rest of the world, specifically Europe. In this paper I will discuss the events and circumstance preceding the Louisiana Purchase and also cover the effect the purchase had on our country and the rest of the world. The area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was originally settled by the French in the early 18th century but was ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762. A year later the huge province was lost to Great Britain at the end of the Seven Years’ War, as part of the Treaty of Paris. This area was returned to Spain when the British signed the second Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, which concluded the American Revolution and recognized the former 13 colonies as the free and sovereign United States of America. That same day Great Britain also signed separate treaties with France, an ally of the U.S., and Spain, an ally of France (Crawely 123-127). To continue the juggling of this massive area of land, French Emperor Napoleon forced the secret treaty of San Ildefonso (1800), which turned the land back over to the original owners, France. This action caused uneasiness in the United States because Napoleonic France was an aggressive power at the time. The United States also worried about western settlers who relied on the Mississippi River for commerce. T...

The Role of Strategic Planning within an Organisation Research Paper

The Role of Strategic Planning within an Organisation - Research Paper Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that the development of an organizational strategic plan remains essential in ensuring the stakeholders remains focused toward achievement of common goals. Through the strategic planning aspect, a guideline to fundamental decisions becomes established as organizations seek to enhance the effectiveness of the organizational business process. Effective strategic planning, therefore, presents an articulate course of actions which are necessary for making essential progress within the organization. Strategic planning remains an essential aspect of management which must be effectively addressed in seeking to ensure organizational efficacy. This planning element can be defined as a fundamental determinant of the management process as it presents an evaluative communication of the organizational capabilities with objectives. Strategic planning enables organizations to match their capabilities with the anticipated outcomes, hence enhance the effectiv eness in the utilization of organizational resources. The strategic planning element provides guidance regarding the course of action to be taken under different circumstances which might face the organization. This is commonly established following an extensive analysis of the internal and external factors which might affect the effectiveness of the organization. Organisational planning remains essential in the development of processes aimed at providing a guideline into the actions undertaken towards achieving organizational goals. The fundamental focus of strategic planning remains to ensure the sustainability of business operations in the future. Strategic planning remains a critical element in different management aspects within an organization. Crisis management can be described as the process through which organizations deal with external threats which could potentially harm business operations.

RPM and a Core Component of Every Business Leader Research Paper

RPM and a Core Component of Every Business Leader - Research Paper Example Cooper (2010) says that any new approach or solution that is adapted to resolve a given issue must be evaluated in turn to assess its effectiveness and quality. In other words, it is simply not enough to propose a set of steps to tackle situations such as known surprises. In fact, there needs to be an established framework and a set of estimates that can help evaluate the responsiveness of the solutions devised and the extent to which they have helped in reducing the risks. The RPM method presents a number of approaches such as scenario planning, risk analysis, incentives and networks as a means to ferret out threats. However, it does not provide any subsequent methods or advise on measuring the success of these methods, thereby leaving open this question to contention among organizations that adopt any of these methods (Cooper, 2010). Lastly, many uncertainties are not restricted to a few specific factors and may sometimes influence through a number of frontiers. For example, Jack W elch, the former CEO of General Electric, was driven by psychological preconceptions in his bid for acquiring Honeywell. Watkins and Bazerman (2003) highlight that he completely ignored potential issues that could be encountered by European regulators. In this context, some researchers like Montier (2010) believe that Mr Welch’s decision may have been driven by factors beyond psychological and cognitive biases. For example, the internal organizational culture at General Electric could have been fragmented or distorted that may have resulted in the communication of inefficient and ill-constructed ideas to top-level management.